POLST Legislation and Education Are Key to Successful Implementation
By: Lisa George, MPH, CHES – Jewish Healthcare Foundation The POLST (Pennsylvania Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment) form has been used in Pennsylvania since 2010 (and the Oregon POLST form in use from 2000 to 2010)—providing a standardized way to translate patients’ wishes for care into actionable medical orders. Given this long history of use, it may be […]
Supporting Caregivers of Patients with Dementia
By: Amy Kowkinsky – Director, Dementia360 Program It’s challenging for doctors to give family caregivers the support and guidance they need during infrequent and brief office visits, especially if the person living with dementia is there. Though your actual patient may be the person with dementia, it’s likely that it’s the family caregiver who is […]
Non-Competes: What’s Happening to Your Employment Contract?
The ACMS, in collaboration with the Philadelphia County Medical Society, has put forth this blog post as informational-only. The ACMS team is keeping a pulse on the ongoing FTC proposed rule change regarding non-compete clauses and we will continue to update members accordingly. Restrictive covenants have been a hot button issue that the physicians of […]
Mental Health + Wellness by Jordan Corcoran
As the topic of mental health becomes more popular by the day, phrases like “prioritize your mental health” and “check in with yourself” are being used constantly, but what does it mean and how do we apply it to our very hectic schedules? As the Founder of the mental health organization, Listen, Lucy, an advocate, a […]
Don’t Drop the Ball this January
In the United States, we have historically invested far more into treating sickness than we have in maintaining health. It is common knowledge that the past few years of crisis has placed tremendous mental, emotional, and physical stress on medical personnel. As the world rapidly changed and the stress placed on our medical system was […]
ACMS Year in Review
This blog post is coming right off the heels of the December 6th ACMS Board of Directors meeting; the final board meeting of 2022. It’s hard to believe that 2022 is already ending, but when I reflect back to March of this year, when I started my role as Executive Director, I am in awe of […]
Prior Authorization Reform
On November 3, 2022, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf signed PA Senate Bill 225 into law as Act 146. This new law does not eliminate prior authorization but it does aim to streamline the prior authorization process. It provides parameters that govern the relationships between patients, providers, and insurers for health care coverage decisions. Pennsylvania will now join […]
Viewpoints: House of Delegates from a First Time Attendee
By: Nadia A. Sundlass, MD It was a beautiful fall day for the drive from Pittsburgh to Hershey for the first hybrid House of Delegates meeting since the beginning of the pandemic. The fall foliage was in peak colors as I drove through the countryside. I was hoping to get to Hershey in time for […]
What to Know About the Adderall Shortage
By: Patrick Hussey, PharmD, MBA FDA Announces Shortage of Adderall On October 12th, the FDA announced that there is a shortage on Adderall. Amphetamine mixed salts, or its brand name of Adderall, is a popular attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy drug. Reports of the shortage surfaced in early September, but the FDA has only recently […]
What the Venue Rule Change Means for Healthcare
Venue Rule Change Will Likely Increase Cost of Healthcare and Threaten Patient Access in Pennsylvania By: Curt Schroder, Executive Director, PA Coalition for Civil Justice Reform Pennsylvania is at risk of history repeating with another medical malpractice healthcare crisis thanks to a change in the state’s venue rule. In August, the state Supreme Court rescinded […]